Boys and Girls Basketball, Soccer, and Girls Water Polo are a big part of Xavier’s Winter community. The season’s first DVL (Desert Valley League) games start in mid-December and end mid-February unless the team goes to CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) and/or State. If that is the case the season could continue through March. Winter Sports consist of fun, cold nights, and lots of winning on Xavier’s part.

By way of introducing our teams to the Xavier Community, this reporter asked some unexpected questions of members of the teams. The answers were entertaining. Enjoy!

Basketball

Boys Basketball Varsity team is led by Captains Chandler Barbato and Michael Divine. The coaches are Justin Sobczyk (Head Coach) and Matt Clark (Assistant Coach). Junior Varsity is led by Head Coach, Taylor Pope and Assistant Coach, Steve Sander. The Freshmen team is coached by Justin Pulsifer (Head) and Bryan Fair (Assistant).

Girls Basketball Varsity Captains are Amor Toland, Kylah Toland, Maliyah Bosley, and Jaylen Perez. The team is coached by Head Coach Thadd Bosley and by Assistant Coaches Jesus Rosas, Kamille Diaz, James Toland, and Manuel Saldivar.

What’s in your bag?

“I have 4 pairs of socks in my bag because I never know what pair I want to wear.” Says Sophomore Carlos Haggar.

“I play both soccer and basketball so I have my Jays and soccer cleats in my duffel bag!” –Hayley Felix

What do you do you do as a team to bond?“Eat food together, have fun bus rides and work together as a team.”–Captain Amor Toland

Soccer

John Vuksic, more commonly known as Stark, and Elyas Ruiz are the Boys Soccer Varsity Captains. The team’s Coaches are Albert Rodriguez and Carlos Calixto. Stephana Bello, Sophia Caridi, and Dalton Kramer are the Girls Varsity Captain. Girls Soccer Coaches are Gerry McLaughlin, Peter Kulevich, and Armando Vazquez.

What cleats do you wear?

Marcello Lopez–hard at work!

Under Armor Superman Cleats–Aliya Garcia

Mint and blue colored Nike cleats–Leah Dreisbach

What are some funny things that happen at practice?

“When we get hit with the ball when it is really cold out, you will fall to the ground very dramatically!”–Dalton Kramer

“Coach Armando was trying to show us an example of a drill and he kept doing it wrong and it had us all in tears.”–McKinlee Groat

“The sprinkler would always come on during our practice, and we would have to sprint through them to get to our bags so they wouldn’t get wet, even though we ended up getting soaked!”–Nadyne Abubo